Our late friend Mack (still miss you mate ) at Rousse Tower, overlooking Grand Havre Bay on the north coast of Guernsey, was one of 15 granite 'loophole' towers built in 1778 - 79 to protect the coastline from French attack.

Fort in the Dolomites, Italy

Col de Basset, French Alps

Another one of Fort Central, Col de Tende

French (?) military buildings Col de Turini

Castle South West France, near Toulouse.

__________________
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying........."Damn..We F*cked Up" - Anon.

Here is a new place : "Le massif de l'Authion" near the Tendini pass in the French Alps.

I was very foggy and cloudy this day.

But the clouds were beautiful, grasping the mountains on the old circular military road.

I parked my bike and walked thru the fog to discover

This fort : La redoute de trois communes.
It was built in 1897 and was the first fortification in France were concrete was used.

In 1945, all this Authion area was occupied by Germain mountain infantry and attacked by the newly reunified French army on April 10th.
After heavy fights, the battle was won on April 24th.
There were 274 kia and 644 wounded from both armies.
It was one of the last WW2 battle on French territory.

If you want to ride from France to Italy thru the Mont-Cenis pass, don't miss this route...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_CenisSaz
Arriving by the main road, you can stop by the reservoir for the view.
Then take the small road toward the dam and then the gravel road

You will arrive to the Fort de variselle. Park your bike and go for a visit !

In 1880, this place was on the Italian side of the border. The real name of the fort is so Fort Variselo because it was built by the Italian army.
It's the biggest fort of the area because it was also a logistical deport for food and ammunition.
It never saw combat and the only fire it got was in 1909 by the italian army who used it as a target for a live fire artillery target !
View on the lake from the inside of the fort.

Here is the modern dam from the grass roof.
Be careful if you climb here, there are a lot of holes in this roof...

From the roof, you can also see the old gravel road to Italy.
Of course we had to try it !

You can see the modern tarmack road far away.

Gravel road switchbacks...

This small dam is already in Italy.

And when you find back the tarmack, you are welcomed by a nice rainbow !

How's the rest of the road surface compared to where you stopped for the picture? I'll be on a rental bike and want to maximize the amount of the damage deposit that I get back

Is it anything like Tremalzo?

Hi,

The road surface is not worse elsewhere. In fact this road used to be the main road before the tunnel was built. It was then a tarmack road but it finished to become a gravel road by lack of maintenance.
If you ride slowly you can use any road bike here.

I am so jealouse right now.Here (Estonia) we dont have that kind of mountains and places to ride .It is awesome.We only have the Soviet Union "heritage" of army bases and entire once forbidden "military towns".
My dream is once take a ride in the French-Italian Alps and Pyrenees France-Andorra-Spain.Also my dream is to ride in the States

I am so jealouse right now.Here (Estonia) we dont have that kind of mountains and places to ride .It is awesome.We only have the Soviet Union "heritage" of army bases and entire once forbidden "military towns".
My dream is once take a ride in the French-Italian Alps and Pyrenees France-Andorra-Spain.Also my dream is to ride in the States

Cheers

Hi,

Yes, in France/Italy we have beautiful mountains to ride but be aware that most gravel roads and trails (something like 99%) are forbidden to ride by motorized vehicle. So the 1% left are maybe very nice but often very short. When we ride 5 or 7 km offroad we are very happy...
It used to be a little easier in Italy than in France (Testa Assieta or Pointe Someiller) but interdictions are spreading fast now in Italy too...
I understand that in Estonia, you can ride offroad as much as you want.
It's possible that I will check that over there in july...

I understand that in Estonia, you can ride offroad as much as you want.
It's possible that I will check that over there in july...

Cheers

Well, not actually everywhere.We have also nature parks and reservations but yeah, we have more offroad riding freedom comparing to West Europe .
So you are planning to visit us this summer?Thats cool and you are welcome.If you are interested, we can take you for some offroad riding near Tallinn if you going to visit it.